Reference: Exit the president, Bangkok Post, August 24, 2008

The way the assets of the British Indian Army were allocated during partition in 1947 at once created in Pakistan, a new nation in which the single largest and most sophisticated institution by far was the military. Subsequently, the Kashmir wars, the secession of Bangladesh, American military aid first to fight the Russians in Afghanistan and then to fund the war on terror, and the development of a nuclear capability further strengthened the lopsided role of the military in Pakistan. It is a garrison state. The theatrical exit of Musharraf will not change that reality. The military will have its say. It may even tighten its grip.


Cha-am Jamal
Thailand